


safety first

by peeves



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-17 00:27:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3508277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peeves/pseuds/peeves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>mickey doesn't know how to swim. mickey has a life jacket. ian has a pool. problem solved. (season 2)</p>
            </blockquote>





	safety first

**Author's Note:**

> tired from the angst, so here's some fluff. again, inspired by my own post: 
> 
> "i just realized from looking at this post (http://theunforgivngminute.tumblr.com/post/112019396129) that mickey has a life jacket in his room. why? maybe mickey doesn’t know how to swim? what if mickey doesn’t know how to swim and he wears that life jacket to the gallagher pool in s02 and then ian teaches him how to swim and goads him into taking off his life jacket and mickey is flustered and embarrassed and also really really angry bc fUCK THAT HE CAN SWIM OH shit //shhti fuck// no he can’t nope naw nope lifejacket life jacket back on nope"

They leaned against the fence at the dugouts, breathing heavily after round two. After sharing a cigarette, Ian finally spoke.

“You should come over. We’ve got a pool, and no one’s awake at this time,” Ian said, looking at Mickey out of the corner of his eye, gauging his reaction.

“What’s so special about a fuckin’ pool?” Mickey shot back.

“Come on, it’s summer, and it’s hot as fuck. It’ll be _fun_ ,” Ian said.

Mickey sniffed, wiped his nose, and shrugged. “Okay. Yeah. Sure. What the fuck ever,” and started walking away. Ian followed silently, grinning at the prospect of a wet, relaxed Mickey in his own backyard, until he realized Mickey was walking towards the direction of the Milkovich house.

“Yo, where are you going?” Ian asked, and grabbed onto Mickey’s arm, feeling his bicep and thinking of the pull-ups Mickey did earlier. Fucking show off.

Mickey shrugged his hand off and said, “I just need to get some shit. I’ll meet you back at your place in a few.”

“Okay,” Ian agreed, and watched Mickey walk away. Or rather watched Mickey’s ass walk away. Same thing.

* * *

Ian was lounging in the pool with his arms around the edges and head leaned back when Mickey showed up. He was greeted by a splash of water in his face. Grinning and blinking the water out of his eyes, he wasn’t prepared for the sight in front of him: Mickey Milkovich in shorts and a life jacket, bundled up tight and ready to go. Ian burst out laughing and doubled over, almost choking on more water, as Mickey glared, becoming increasingly less amused.

“Oh fuck off, don’t tell me you’ve never worn this shit before,” Mickey complained, and leaned on the heels of his feet, considering escape.

“No, fuck, you’re not going anywhere,” Ian said between laughs, recognizing the look in Mickey’s eyes and beckoning him into the pool. “Get in.”

Mickey rolled his eyes and swaddled over, movements slow and jerky because of how tight his life jacket was tied to him. He lifted one leg slowly and proceeded to clamber into the pool. Once he was in, arms floating at the surface, face nearly obscured by the life jacket, he grinned at Ian, who had been trying to stifle his laughter.

“You really don’t need that shit, Mick,” Ian snorted. “Especially not in this pool; you can literally stand, look.” He stood to prove his point, and to watch Mickey eye him appreciatively.

Mickey wasn’t about to become a fuckin’ romantic or anything, but between floating safely in his life jacket and staring up at Ian Gallagher bathed in moonlight in his half-naked glory, this was as close to perfect as it got. After he realized he was staring for a bit too long, he quickly tried to compose himself and shot back the first thing that he thought of.

“Whatever, my ma always told me to wear this fucking thing alright, never actually been to a pool,” he grumbled, and regretted it instantly when he saw Ian’s face fall. Geez, this is why he never brought up his mom. Leave it to Gallagher to make a big fuckin’ deal out of everything.

Ian moved towards Mickey slowly, reaching out to untangle the straps around the life jacket. “So you never learned how to swim?” he asked softly.

“Nah. Don’t need to.”

“Do you want to?”

Mickey shrugged as Ian unclipped the jacket. “I’ll teach you how to swim,” Ian offered. “Take this off.”

Mickey waggled his eyebrows suggestively at Ian. “That the kind of swim instructor you gonna be?”

Ian laughed as Mickey disentangled himself from the jacket and pushed it away, letting it float on the side.

“Okay. So the main thing is breathing, you know, because the physical movements aren’t that complicated. Make sure you’re constantly blowing”—Mickey sniggered—“ _bubbles_ out of your nose and mouth, or else you’ll choke.” Mickey snorted even harder, and Ian could only roll his eyes.

“Alright Gallagher, doesn’t seem that fuckin’ hard,” Mickey said.

“A lot of talk for someone who showed up in a life jacket for a 4 foot deep pool,” Ian shot back. Mickey only glared in response, heart rate increasing at the prospect of trying to float in this pool. It wasn’t a deep pool, but he had never swam before. How the fuck was this supposed to work?

“Scared?” Ian goaded.

“Oh fuck off,” Mickey huffed angrily, determined to prove himself once and for all, and leaned over awkwardly to float face down. As soon as his feet left the bottom of the pool and rose up so he was horizontal in the water, he began to panic, arms flailing and searching for his life jacket to grab onto, for something to anchor him so he could maneuver the weight of his body to land on his two feet.

Two strong arms grabbed him and pulled him upright. “Hey, hey, you’re okay, that was a good start,” Ian reassured. Spluttering and coughing, Mickey glared at Ian. It took a few more seconds for his heart rate to return to normal, and once it did, Mickey pushed Ian away, snatched his life jacket back and held it close to him.

Ian wasn’t fazed by the push, and recognized the split second of pure terror in Mickey’s eyes. Honestly, Ian was just impressed that Mickey was even still here, still willing to try.

“Okay, how about we try floating on your back first?”

“Fuck off.”

“Like this,” Ian ignored Mickey and leaned backwards towards the middle of the pool, floating facing up.

Mickey considered splashing Ian again, or simply getting out of the pool and leaving. Anything to avoid the embarrassment that was making a fool out of himself. God, why’d he even agree to come to this stupid pool in the first place? But Mickey Milkovich wasn’t a coward, and he sure as hell wasn’t scared of some fuckin’ pool water, so he held on tightly to his life jacket to his chest, and leaned back in the same direction as Ian until they floated side by side. 

Ian turned his head to face Mickey. “Yeah! Like that! Not bad, right?” he said encouragingly. Mickey shrugged, still holding on to the jacket, trying to hide his proud smile.

After a few moments of silence, Mickey asked, “So what next?” Ian had floated even closer to him so that their arms brushed against each other. Ian was able to turn his head to face Mickey, but Mickey wasn’t about to risk the stability that was floating on his back to look at Gallagher’s fuckin’ face, so he faced the sky instead.

Ian stared at Mickey’s lips, only a few inches away from his own at this point. He appreciated the light bruises over Mickey’s shoulders and neck, loved that Mickey let him give him hickeys when they fucked. Stared at the water pooled over his collarbones. Wished that Mickey would let him kiss him.

“Now let go of the jacket,” Ian tried, aiming to push Mickey out of his comfort zone a little more.

“Enough about the jacket, Christ.”

“Fine. Move your legs, then. Kick them like a scissor,” Ian said, demonstrating by kicking once and pushing himself a foot ahead of Mickey.

Mickey hesitated, before following the same movements. He could do this. He kicked once, then twice, surpassing Ian. He did it! He could swim! He gleefully continued to kick until he hit his head on the other side of the pool.

“Ah, fuck!”

Ian was upright at this point, watching Mickey swim. He crouched, half submerged, and laughed at Mickey’s misfortune.

Mickey ignored Ian and turned around to push off with his feet from that side of the pool, to kick onto his back again. He could swim. Grinning proudly to himself, he kicked a few more rounds, making short laps back and forth in the small pool. Eventually, Ian joined in. It was ridiculous, really, considering how small the pool was, but they raced back and forth, again and again.

It was a lot of splashing, teasing, and roughhousing later, when Mickey was pushing and kicking Ian off course in order to reach the other side faster, that he realized he had let go of his life jacket a long time ago. He watched Ian hit the side of the pool, laughing and carefree, then standing and shaking the water out of his eyes to look back at Mickey.

With Ian, he had forgotten he had anything to be scared of.

**Author's Note:**

> (ianschin.tumblr.com) 
> 
> P.S. do you realize??? that if this actually happened ?? that means mickey walked ALL THE WAY from HIS HOUSE to IAN'S HOUSE in his LIFE JACKET??? just think about that. just think about it. im thinking about it. 
> 
> P.P.S. do you get it??? safety first/??? mickey needs to feel safe with ian first before their relationship can progress? get it??? oh man. oh man.


End file.
